Category Archives: Bits and Pieces: Friends

Launch of theQguides.com and Best Eats KL

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Congratulations to the team behind theQguides.com for successfully launching an online restaurant reservations portal that is set to simplify the dining process by eliminating inconsistent variables at the booking stage (like recipients at the other end of the phone line who don’t speak a word of English, or missing reservations, or being put on hold while listening to elevator music).  All you have to do is register once, then upon successful registration, you can browse through their “list of bookable restaurants” and with a simple click of a button, the job is done.  When Bald Eagle and I travelled to the UK and Spain recently, we used a similar website in the UK called Toptable.com which helped us save $$ in making expensive phonecalls.  Gotta love the internet.

Also, congratulations to Fay Khoo on her latest concise food guide to KL’s eateries called Best Eats.  When I first met Fay several months back, my initial reaction was – Wow, this girl can talk a monkey into eating its young!  And she can EAT.  There’s nothing worse than a foodie who merely nibbles, but this girl Fay, she loves her carbs.  Great book, looking forward to more guides that cover out-of-KL makan places too.

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The launch party was held at TwentyOne Kitchen+Bar, Changkat Bukit Bintang.   For more pictures and writeup, check out MrCheong’s blog.

Acknowledgement:
First picture – courtesy of Frat Mustard, the face of theQguides.com and the man whose ambition is to grow Malaysia’s food and beverage industry.
Collages – courtesy of Eric Cheong, an amazingly talented photographer.

The Nirvana Bus Tour – Street Food in Pulau Tikus, Penang

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Penang may be my birthplace, but I feel like I have not earned the right to call myself a Penangite.  In many ways, because we moved away from Penang when I was just nine, I have more of an affinity to my current hometown than to Penang.  Despite that, some memories remain.

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Like catching tadpoles in puddles of water at the nearby construction site behind Penang Free School until my mum would yell for me to come back home for dinner.   Picking up pretty mosaic tiles when the workers were not looking, and gazing at the colourful reflective pieces for hours after.   Walking with my mum to the wet market, and afterwards treating ourselves to a bowl of kuay teow th’ng, perching ourselves on battered steel stools and ravishing the noodles with wide smiles on our faces.

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My life at nine through rose-tinted glasses, perhaps.   As a child, it never occurred to me that we were different from others.  My brother used to say, “Appa is black, Amma is white, and I am brown”.   We weren’t blind to colour, but we were colour blind.

(all photos above taken on location in various parts of Penang)

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1. Pulau Tikus at night

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We arrived at Penang at about 10.00pm and before even checking into our hotel, we drove straight to the Pulau Tikus market for Round One of Penang street food.

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Five of us shared one plate of Penang chee cheong fun – flat rice noodles with a dark sauce containing the primary ingredient – prawn paste.

2. Pulau Tikus in the morning

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Chee Cheong Fun

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Kway Teow Th’ng

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Kway Chap

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Chai Tow Kway

One can never go hungry at the Pulau Tikus market in the morning.   There is an amazing selection of freshly cooked food – from currypuffs to pancakes, chai tow kway (fried carrot cake) to mamak mee.   The market bustles with activity and loud voices compete as customers haggle for the best prices.

3. Swee Kong Coffee Shop

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One of the bestsellers at this coffee shop is the apom stall manned by an Indian man.   The apom (crispy “pancake”) is sweet, eggy and coconutty – I can’t believe it costs only 50 sen a piece.

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The hokkien mee (or prawn mee in this part of the world) is another fast selling item.  Thanks to Boo’s persistence, the owner scraped the remnants to make up this last bowl of noodles for the day.

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Wantan mee with fried wantans is another popular dish here.   It is served with a little bit of thick gravy, quite unlike anything I’ve ever tried before.

Swee Kong Coffee Shop
Burmah Road

4. Seng Lee Coffee Shop

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At the corner of Burmah Road and Bangkok Lane (across from Swee Kong and a short walk up) is Seng Lee, another institution, famous for hokkien mee, pasembor and mamak mee.

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The pasembor (mamak rojak) containing fritters, hard boiled eggs, bean curd and boiled potatoes in a spicy peanut sauce is highly addictive.

5. Pork satay

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Take a short work down Bangkok Lane in search of the elusive pork satay man with his pushcart.

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Pork satay

Instead of ketupat (rice cakes), this satay is served with toasted bread.

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~ Those who have much are often greedy, those who have little always share. ~
Oscar Wilde

I guess we must be paupers.

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Also check out:

The Nirvana Bus Tour

The Nirvana Bus Tour, Prologue and A Nirvana Tribute

The Nirvana Bus Tour – The Tanjung Tualang Chapter

The Nirvana Bus Tour – The Tanjung Tualang Chapter

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road trip

One baby to another said,
I’m lucky to have met you
I don’t care what you think
Unless it is about me
It is now my duty to completely drain you
A travel through a tube
And end up in your infection

– Lyrics from Drain You, Album: Nevermind, Artist: Nirvana –

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This is my beautiful Malaysia.  I’ve lived here all my life, but I still don’t know how to freaking draw it.   The Nirvana Bus Tour started from the city of purity also known as Shah Alam and headed north towards Tanjung Tualang, a tiny little town in Perak known only for its freshwater prawns.

Kelly's Castle
What’s with the white paint??

Along the way, our driver (aka Bald Eagle) insisted on making a stop at Kellie’s Castle, a structure built by a Scottish planter in the early 1900s.   This was the only non-food pit stop in the entire journey.   Other than pee breaks, of course.  I thus felt a need to record it.

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We saw Kurt Cobain

With eyes so dilated,
I’ve became your pupil
You’ve taught me everything
Without a poison apple
The water is so yellow, I’m a healthy student
Indebted and so grateful –
Vacuum out the fluids

– Lyrics from Drain You, Album: Nevermind, Artist: Nirvana –

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We observed the owner fish out 30 freshwater prawns from the tanks situated outside the restaurant.   They were a sight to behold; my momentary pity upon seeing them leaping helplessly in the tiny green pail was soon replaced by intense hunger at the anticipation of feeding on them.   From the moment I put the first prawn (cooked “kon cheen” style, i.e. dry fried with soy sauce) into my mouth, I knew that we had made the right decision to detour to Tanjung Tualang for dinner.   The prawns (with oozing creamy roe), were sticky and tasty, the flavour coming entirely from the sweetness of the flesh with the aid of just soy sauce.  This dish was quickly followed by prawns cooked in oats, a style of cooking that I can only call genius.   The oats were flaky and crunchy, and it almost felt like I was eating festive cookies.  The third style of preparation was the ubiquitous butter prawns.  The prawns came shrouded in very fine fried egg floss.   Very, very tasty.   At this point, we thought we’d balance our meal with a serving of crabs which were steamed in egg white.  Delicious.

Chew your meat for you
Pass it back and forth in a passionate kiss
From my mouth to yours because I like you.

– Lyrics from Drain You, Album: Nevermind, Artist: Nirvana –

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I love small town fashion

Sloppy lips to lips
You’re my vitamins because I’m like you

– Lyrics from Drain You, Album: Nevermind, Artist: Nirvana –

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We’ll be back, Tanjung Tualang.

The prawns cost RM65 per kg.  Pretty good value considering the freshness of the prawns.

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Lung Seng Restaurant
10, Jalan Besar
Tanjung Tualang
Perak

Tel: 05-360 0735

Opening hours: 11.30am to 9.00pm. Reservations recommended!

Also check out: Masak-Masak, Precious Pea.

The Nirvana Bus Tour continues……to Penang.  Watch this space.